123 Comments

Fuck today, now and forever.

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OH NOOOOOO RUTH BADER GINSBURG

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What?!?!?! I hope it isn't what I'm assuming it is.

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Oh shit...yes it is. Well here goes the Senate on overdrive.

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Larry Scott does not expect a vote by university presidents on a football season today...

https://www.si.com/college/cal/news/larry-scott-no-vote-friday

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M-W at it again:

hysterectomy

blood on one's hands

leave of absence / venial

herd mentality

useful idiot

indoctrinate

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Elsewhere in college

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TIL: most of Wichita State's football team's starters died in a plane crash in 1970. Overshadowed in history because the Marshall team crash was 43 days later.

https://kdvr.com/news/local/50-years-after-deadly-plane-crash-wichita-state-players-and-loved-ones-return-to-the-wreckage/

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University of Georgia relents. Allows on-campus in-person voting after criticism that it allowed football, but not voting.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/09/17/uga-coronavirus-voting-football/

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That’s great news.

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You can see Uranus this week.

[insert joke about getting a mirror here]

https://www.space.com/uranus-neptune-skywatching-september-2020.html

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What if Berkeley is the only municipality that prevents football? Probably unlikely but if so, how Cal-like. I saw ESPN college football live (otherwise known as the Bama/Clemson show) and the talking heads were discussing the Pac12 and specifically Berkeley. There was reference made to Nancy Skinner helping to get necessary approvals...

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From another Ess-Penn blurb I saw, and to answer a question from yesterday re: who you would like to punch in the face....Paul Finebaum! Eat a dicque, Paulie

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Yeah I saw a clip where they ask Paul about the Pac 12 returning and how that might impact the CFB playoff and he genuinely looked upset that the Pac 12 was returning and then dismissed their chances for the playoffs.

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They always dis the Pac-12 with the exception of SC, but their glory days are over.

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Whose glory days, SC? We’re just in hibernation like cardinal and gold cicadas, waiting to reappear and be (even more) annoying

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So are you saying SC will wait 17 years before coming back out of hibernation??

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Well it’s typically a long time between natties now, so yes

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Next year around here?

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It’s going to be LOUD

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This is going to be such a cluster-faulk...with no non-Conference games, you can just pencil in 2 SEC squads, an ACC and Ohio State in whatever farce qualifies as the CFP...dipshitz like Finebaum perpetuate this.

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When we were 4-0 last season and facing ASU, Finebaum said Cal was a "fraud". Unfortunately Garbers got hurt and we lost.

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I hope Finebaum goes to a game and catches Covid.

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He is incredibly skinny in real life. Like you could body check him into next week by accident slight

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THIS IS FINE

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Amal Clooney, whose husband is a part time actor and full time bon vivant, has resigned as UK special envoy on media freedom, on the grounds that she will not support a government that refuses to obey international law and honor treaties

https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1306964026778361856?s=21

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"whose husband is a part time actor and full time bon vivant"

pqtm. I still remember him on The Facts of Life. From unknown actor to married to a world renowned human rights lawyer.

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I suspect that I am not the only person on the team who has started looking for a new job because our customer is so relentlessly unpleasant to deal with.

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Re: the picture. My brother lives along the side of a course. There are no flames in the area but air quality was hazardous for a couple days. He said there weren't many golfers out but a few guys insisted on playing despite the air.

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Regarding the picture. I am not sure did it is real or not but it wouldn’t surprise me if it is real. If real it would only increase my hate for golf.

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I used to live on a golf course in Atlanta during my big company days. Once a tornado came rolling down the fairway along with golf ball sized hail. Was happy to move back to California...

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Stupid Pets

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Re: these comments, Why in the hell to people have cats as pets? I could never get this.

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Most of the time they’re less hassle than cats

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That should have read “less hassle than dogs” oops

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Dogs require more work to be sure, but you get more back for your investment.

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Sep 18, 2020Liked by Berkelium97, SGBear

We put my son's hamster (named "Hamster McHamsterface") downstairs because he was being a little loud and kept waking my son up. During the night, the hamster decided to find a way to escape his cage by somehow separating the exterior travel tubes and jumping out. He then climbed up the 13 (carpeted) stairs to the second floor. I discovered this little prison break in the morning as I was "getting ready for work" on the porcelain throne. As I was contemplating life, I looked down and looked straight into the hamster's face. The only thing I could say was "What the f- are YOU doing here?"

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Did you catch him?

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Yup. There wasn't anywhere he could go so I finished up, grabbed him and put him back. Turned out that he chewed the tube connections so much that he was able to get the tubes to fail. Just a little tape fixed it, and it never happened again.

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DCT - it can always be worse.

After holding out redecorating the "gentleman's calling lounge" adjacent to our foyer because it was a waste of money, Mrs SGB decided - yeah - it was time to splurge and get that room decorated so we can use it as a reading room. Re-engage with our least-crazy decorator. Get order a new couch, cushions, rug, chairs, some squishy ottomans, paintings - the whole shebang. The furniture shows up and we go leave town that next weekend for an extended vacation. Neighbor's kid comes over to feed the cat, but the regular one who normally does it.

We return and find out that the cat demonstrates her displeasure of all those changes by peeing all over the rug, the ottomans, the couches, each pillow. She has never done anything remotely like that before. All in, $8,000 of damages because she literally was pissed off about us leaving.

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omgggg

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Dogs > cats

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Cats are better for people who travel.

Don’t have to worry about babies or toddlers around cats like you do with dogs.

Cats don’t tear up your backyard.

Cat poop on the sidewalk isn’t a thing.

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but cats will tear up your furniture. I'd rather a have a few holes in my backyard than a couch that even goodwill won't take off my hands.

And cat shit on a sidewalk might not be thing, but they will shit in your house plants.

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The cat we adopted had been declawed on the front paws at some point. I don’t think I would have done it, but the furniture will last longer as a result

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I have had cats (2) for ten years and they have never once take a shit in my house plants. If they do that means you aren’t changing their litter box frequently enough.

You are correct about tearing up furniture though! That is a problem.

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Cats>dogs

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Agreed. Cats have their issues but overall they are less maintenance and annoying than dogs.

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Our dog is definitely better behaved than any of the cats. I never have to worry about him getting in trouble, as long as he stays away from the chickens...

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our Goldendoodle is about 3 weeks out from birthing some future puppy farm cash for me

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Dog guy as well...she’s the only red thing I own

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I was fine with neither. The cat is currently still somewhat less labor intensive and if it survives until my younger daughter finishes college it’s going to live with her

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I've been incredibly annoyed at our cats for their occasional petty and destructive behavior, but that's on another level. If one of ours did that, it would be banished to the basement for a while.

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how about banished to the glue factory?

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Hey FS, thanks for the Korean recs, but since my wife liked the first episode of "Crash Landing on You" we've kept up with it. (not sure if you've seen it or just avoided it based on reviews) I was enjoying it, when we got to episode 7, I was like "wow that was bonkers, how are they going to resolve this mess? Must be ending by episode 10. Then I learned there are 16 episodes!!!!!!

Anyway, the comedy & romance are fine, the "drama" such as it is, is bonkers insane.

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I watched a bit more than half. Its got star power, you dont get much bigger than the female lead who is an absolute legend. The supporting cast is extremely strong too. The story is just silly though and to your point, they struggled to get 16 episodes out of that material. They really had about 8 episodes of content and the rest is just dumb fluff and that's what killed me. It dragged so badly in the middle and I got really tired of the "North Korean peasants are such bumpkins" shtick they played for laughs. Again, there are loads of Rom-Coms better than that one but its all about personal taste I suppose.

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Eh, I know how silly it is, but once we started, the wife wants to finish it.

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Okay our cat is now off the bad cat list

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Our cat took an enormous dump (relative to her body size) in the downstairs bathroom which I discovered by standing on the aforementioned excrement, barefoot. Stupid cat.

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She also puked in the tv room

Stupid cat

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Our Crumbling Republic

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RBG was probably the last brick to crumble. American democracy is dead.

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Julian Assange's lawyer: GOP Congressman (Rohrabacher) passed along an offer for a presidential pardon if Wikileaks selectively released information that made it seem like it wasn't Russia as the source of the Hillary email hack. This is distinctly different from what Rohrabacher claimed, which is a pardon him if he could give evidence of who was the source - not a cover-up.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-admits-that-putins-favorite-congressman-offered-pardon-to-assange-if-he-covered-up-russia-links

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yheh...maybe Biden can pass along an offer for a presidential pardon if he does release information that Russia was the source of everything. Two can play that game.

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Looking more and more dirty -

"A pattern of campaign contributions by employees and relatives of Louis DeJoy before he became postmaster general indicates a possible effort to reimburse his associates for donations as recently as 2018, according to a Federal Election Commission complaint filed Thursday by a government watchdog group.

The filing by the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center is the third complaint seeking a state or federal investigation since The Washington Post this month reported allegations that DeJoy and his aides urged employees at New Breed Logistics, his former North Carolina-based company, to write checks and attend fundraisers on behalf of Republican candidates."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/louis-dejoy-donations-complaint/2020/09/18/4047e7e4-f8f8-11ea-a275-1a2c2d36e1f1_story.html

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In person early voting starts today in Virginia. I'm tempted to go and get the blue bandwagon started.

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Get that blue wave started! Turn that wake into a wave and swamp those trump flotillas.

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I filled out my absentee ballot yesterday. First time in my life that I've ever done a straight-ticket vote.

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I just saw a story that 200 were in line when it opened at the courthouse this morning. The Saturday morning farmer's market is at the courthouse parking lot so maybe two birds with one stone tomorrow morning.

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I'm going to vote in person when Texas opens up for early voting. I just dont trust the Republicans not to fuck with mail in ballots

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I was a poll worker for two elections in Alameda County, once during high school and once during college. In one, it was me and three older ladies (pretty standard). AC used the machines. Some people who came in to vote requested a paper ballot because they didn't trust the machines, and one of the poll workers did all she could to discourage them from the paper ballot; frankly, I remember some of what she said being wrong.

From then on, I resolved to always vote on paper, which in California meant requesting a permanent absentee ballot. I usually fill out my ballot in advance and then have my dad (I'm still registered at my parents' house) drop off the ballot on the day of the election. This year, I think we (my family) all need to drop off our ballots at the registrar wayyyyy in advance.

When I lived in Ohio, I always voted in person, sometimes early. A vote in Ohio actually counts, so I wanted to make sure I could be counted.

(Yes, my vote in California counts on the local front, I know.)

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SF has paper ballots that are fed into optical scanners to read the votes. I feel like it's the best of both worlds -- instant counting, plus a full paper trail. I wish every jurisdiction did it that way.

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Due to firsthand experience with some obscene mail delays (multiple instances of taking about a month to send letters between CA to MD, four weeks to get a 3 lb package from Iowa), I'm planning to request a mail-in ballot and drop it off in person.

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Trump does some political theater by issuing an EO for Federal patriotic education. Calls it the 1776 Commission as an obvious reaction to the 1619 Project. Feds are not in charge of education. Unknown if kids will be issued brown shirts.

[BugBunnyLaughingSayingWhatAMaroon.gif]

https://twitter.com/nprpolitics/status/1306967473963450370

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I spoke too soon. Berkeley Labs has discontinued diversity training. It's a nothingburger in the big picture, but it is a thing.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/UC-s-national-labs-suspend-diversity-training-15575382.php

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Well they do get an enormous amount of federal money no? Or am I crossing wires with Lawrence Livermore

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Olivia Troy, former advisor to Pence for Homeland Security, publicly backs Biden in interview. Pence blasts her as disgruntled, saying she lacked the moral courage because she didn't confront him about their Covid response.

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/17/914219115/trump-dismisses-complaints-about-coronavirus-response-from-former-pence-aide

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Part of me thinks that we shouldn't enforce some kind of purity test on people like Olivia Troy or Mitt Romney (especially because conservatives happily fell in line to support Donald Trump).

The other part of me is resentful that we've got people who wreaked all this havoc and THEN said, "Oh, I've seen the light now..."

Also, all the people who were part of the problem and then made fortunes by writing books about it 😡

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Olivia Troy quit her job because she thought it was so wrong. I'm not resentful of her. I wish someone would ask Pence if she couldn't raise her concerns with him because he wouldn't meet with her 1:1 because she's a woman, though.

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Good points

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Today in COVID-19

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This happened about two months ago, not today. I went to my usual grocery store. Was in the produce aisle and was going about my shopping. Went to one corner to pick out an item. In that corner was an older lady shopping while riding an electric Rascal scooter. She's looking in my direction, so I know she sees me.

I slowly meander to where she is and once I get within a certain range of her vision -- her eyes get super wide, her hands come up from her side toward her chin with her palms out, she half stands up from her rascal and she leans way back. I mean, it was a silent-film-era act of fear, but it was real.

And she held that look as she gaped at me with those huge fear-dilated eyes. I'm thinking to myself "what the fuck?"

Then I realize. Oh, fucking great. I'm an American who happens to be Asian. She sees me as the "China Virus".

Wasn't mad, but rather like "it is what it is". So I walk away from her, pushed my cart to a different part of the store to let this poor Fox News watcher shop without the fear of Yellow Peril coming to get her.

And this is why we don't call it the China Virus, you orange fuck.

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A CGBear (I forget his username, but he's friends with Ruey) posted something on Fbook, and one of the commenters went ALL in on what must be a set of conservative talking points, sprinkling "Wuhan virus" throughout, as well as epithets like "Saint Fauci" and "Pelosi Antoinette."

My thoughts, in no specific order:

-I'm Taiwanese and have a healthy distrust of the Chinese government, but I try to be careful in how I critique China, because my reasons for not trusting China are very different from the people calling it the Chinese flu, and I certainly don't want to join them

-Plus, racism. Someone saying "Chinese flu" probably hasn't even heard of Taiwan, much less distinguishing between different types of Asians

-The Taiwanese also have good reason to mistrust the WHO, but again, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon of Americans eager to cast aspersions on the WHO

-I shouldn't have to give my Ohio bona fides to demonstrate that I'm American, but apparently, people with my skin color will never look "American" enough

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"With just weeks until the election, the Democratic-led House on Thursday delivered a thinly veiled rebuke of Trump with passage of a measure condemning “all forms of anti-Asian sentiment” related to the novel coronavirus, including the use of terms such as the “China virus” and “Kung Flu.”

The measure passed 243 to 164, with 14 Republicans joining Democrats in supporting it. No Democrats voted against the measure, and an independent, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, voted “present.”

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"-I shouldn't have to give my Ohio bona fides to demonstrate that I'm American, but apparently, people with my skin color will never look "American" enough"

To a diminishing number of other Americans, sure, but no where near a majority.

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I think that living in the Bay Area might affect your observation here

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Exactly, and even in the Bay, I've received and heard comments suggesting that looking Asian precludes being American.

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Boo hiss

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I have been told I'm not a 'Real American', even though:

1. I was born in Indiana

2. Spent my entire childhood in suburbs

3. I'm white

Point being, for the 42%, its not always just about race, a lot of times its just about dehumanizing or distancing anyone that has a different vision of America than them.

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What were the circumstances?

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Wild guess, I am thinking it may have been a based on a political viewpoint, which, unlike traits of ethnicity, race, or color, can easily be hidden from view.

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Thankfully not a majority but still a large enough minority to get the Orange Ass Face (OAF) elected president.

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should've just slightly coughed.

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😂

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Glasses may help prevent transmission. Might not, but good to know.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/516945-eyeglasses-may-help-protect-against-coronavirus-study

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@then 85000 in China might not have gotten it.@

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Finally I have something going for me

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Many of us been through the cleaning, drinking, baking, and binge-watching phases. What phase are you in now?

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Transitioning out of the drinking phase. I really just limit it to weekends, but am getting burnt out on it. Cleaner air and cooler weather will motivate me to start running and biking again.

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I'm still in the working-on-my-novel phase. I currently have a prologue and four chapters!

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I'm in the find-small-projects-to-pass-the-time-on-weekends phase. Last week it was cutting up a tree that fell in the neighbor's yard. Next week I'll reseal the driveway (we're hitting the low 40s over the next several days, so it's too cold this weekend for it to cure properly).

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i was riding a lot early during coronavirus times. i have gotten a little burnt out and recently started playing tennis.

also, it is nice that le Tour de France is on. much needed change of pace and distraction

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I’m pretty much where I was the whole time except I managed to jack up my leg and lower back muscles so I’m not walking nearly as much.

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I just bought a giant hot dog costume because I'm bored. Lemme know when you reach the hot dog phase.

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I had some Snake River Farms hot dogs last weekend - they were excellent, snappy and nicely spiced.

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PRO

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A great run for an undrafted free agent. Anderson now plans to pursue a career in coaching and initially is likely to do it at a big power 5 college. “Details soon,” he said.

Hmm...does Cal need a RB coach in waiting?

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from Laney "last-chance U" to Cal to the Broncos and Super Bowl stardom. I think the Rams should have kept him. Good for him.

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Browns defeat Bengals 35-30 (https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1306803246070079490)

There were fans at this game, in a state where the curve still hasn't flattened after a rash of July 4th cases. Can you imagine risking covid infection to watch to Browns and Bengals?

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They were risking it to watch the Battle for Ohio!!

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I don't even watch football anymore, and especially not this year, but I will always think THIS COULD BE OUR YEAR re: Browns.

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Then it's a good thing you're a Cal fan as well...

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Ummm....no.

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Friday BP: Padres doubleheader set

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2020/9/18/21444703/san-francisco-giants-padres-doubleheader-schedule

Hello and happy Friday.

The San Francisco Giants had two games against the San Diego Padres postponed last weekend, the result of a false positive coronavirus test result. They made up one of those games with a Sunday doubleheader, but still need to make up another.

They’ll do so during the final series of the season, with a Friday doubleheader at Oracle Park.

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Dodgers unload late to beat Rockies

https://www.truebluela.com/2020/9/17/21444684/dodgers-rally-late-rockies-bullpen

Kyle Freeland kept the Dodgers mostly at bay for six innings, but that seventh inning was a doozy. A rally that saw six runs in the frame broke a tie and gave the Dodgers a 9-3 win over the Rockies on Thursday night at Coors Field.

The Dodgers lead the National League West by four games with nine to play, with a magic number of five to clinch the division.

It was a 2-2 tie starting the seventh inning that was mostly a pitchers’ duel to that point, but the Dodgers sent 11 batters to the plate against Freeland, Carlos Estévez, and Jairo Díaz to score six runs. The inning including doubles by Kiké Hernández, Corey Seager, and Will Smith, four walks, a single, two passed balls, and a wild pitch.

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CAL

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Go Bears

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